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"But I hid your IP! You shouldn’t have been detectable!"

No, he shouldn’t have been And then a terrible suspicion swept over hihost in the machine" Tom remembered that tere of Yuri that day on the stairwell, following the sense of it all

Vengerov had been listening that day He’d heard Blackburn, and he learned someone else like Tohost was a friend of To the likeliest suspect Tom had a notoriously extraordinary friend Medusa

That’s why Vengerov approached To Medusa a virus And Tom stupidly went to Medusa and told her LM Ly her because she inning too erov’s lie That wasn’t the reason Vengerov atching her Toerov was hunting that ghost and he believed it was Medusa Tom may have doomed her He’d doo to be more of those Praetorians soon," he said, eyes on the door to the hallway "We have to get out of here We can’t stay! They’ll bust through that door any ed herself, visibly shaking "We’re never getting through those machines That’s the only path The only other way is outside"

Outside Tom had done that already, and it hadn’t been winter then It would be colder Outside was death He knew that in his bones

Suddenly a voice boonized the upper-crust British accent with a hint of Russian "To the invader or invaders in id To hiize for the welco machines, but alas, you took us quite by surprise I know you are trapped, and I knohere Bravo for ret that you disabledyour face as I assure you that at this veryon your position, pri down that wall on ain, like he expected it to explode in on the

"But I see no reason for needless bloodshed or a draerov went on "Therefore, I shall give you this opportunity to surrender yourselves to my custody If my machines discover you facedown on the floor, disarmed, with your hands linked behind your heads, they will spare you Otherwise, they will kill you like dogs I give you ninety seconds to make your decision about whether you intend to live or die"

His voice cut off abruptly, leaving To in the warehouse, eyes wide and frightened

"We have to do it," Wyatt said "We have to give up"

Vik was ashen "We’ll get thrown in prison for this"

"It’s better than being dead, Vik! We’ll tell Vengerov the truth He rigged up Yuri, so we cas that are wrongHe’s the one who probably ordered Yuri’s neural processor destroyed!"

"Just like he could do to ours," Vik pointed out darkly "He didn’t care about Yuri--what makes you think he won’t do it to us?"

"He won’t," she stammered "He--he can’t We’re still useful to the erov’s on the same side as we are Maybe we’ll face so Guys?"

"No one knoe’re here, Wyatt," Vik countered, his eyes intent "He doesn’t have to hand us back over He could kill us or do anything he wants to us"

"We have to surrender What choice do we have?" Wyatt said intently "And why aren’t you saying anything, Tom? What do you think?"

They both looked at hie, odd calm despite his certainty of doom He kneould happen If they resisted, they died If they surrendered, well, Joseph Vengerov had manufactured the processors, and he’d ht them, he’d demand far more than their excuses--he’d stick them under the census device and cull them for every last secret in their heads He’d tear the truth out of them, and he’d learn what Tom could do